If you have feelings of wanting to self-harm or kill yourself, call Lifeline on 13 11 14. If you think someone’s safety is at risk, call triple zero (000) immediately.
In Australia, suicide is the leading cause of death in men and women under the age of 45 – eight people take their own lives every day. For every suicide, there are tragic ripple effects for friends, families, colleagues and the broader community.
8.6 Australians die every day by suicide. That’s more than double the road toll
Thoughts and behaviors,
Most people who contemplate suicide are looking for an end to psychological pain, not to die. It can be helpful to conceptualise this as the three I’s, summarising how the person sees their emotional pain and mental distress they want to escape from:
- Intolerable – the pain is unbearable
- Inescapable – no other way out
- Interminable – no end in sight
Have a Safety Plan
Your plan is personal to you and includes steps to help you:
- know your warning signs,
- make your environment safe
- distract yourself with activities you can do or people you can be with
- remember things that make you feel strong
You can create your plan by yourself, or you can ask someone for help.
https://www.lifeline.org.au/get-help/beyond-now/Create-your-Beyond-Now-suicide-safety-plan-online
Links to life:
- Involvement in the church community
- Responsibilities such as children or other family or even a pet
- Friends & Hobbies (piano, gardening, cooking, etc.)
- Relationship with God
What did you used to enjoy doing?
Do you have any hobbies or pet?
What music do you like to listen to?’
Hope for the future.
Create a Hope Kit
A Hope Kit can include things like
- Pictures of family and friends
- Her Journal with coping strategies and her Safety Plan
- Coping Cards listing helpful thoughts
- Gym Membership or other exercise plan to help combat depression
- Parents and friends phone numbers, to seek social support
- A wash cloth as a cue to use it as the coping strategy of placing a cool wet cloth on her face and focusing on the cool sensation
- Location and numbers of nearest emergency department
Create a set of Coping Cards
Have a set of cards with encouraging or uplifting thoughts or phrases
- I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.
- God will never leave me or forsake me
- I am never abandoned I am never alone
- God is with me
- God is for me who can be against me
- No weapon formed against me will prosper
- My battle in not against flesh and blood
- Remember to pur on the full armour of God
- KISS Keep It Sweet and Simple
- When you have done all to stand Stand!
- God’s grace is sufficient
- I am His workmanship created in Christ Jesus to do good works which He planned in advance for me to do
- He is able to do immeasurably more than we can ever hope or imagine
- God’s plans are to prosper me and not to harm me, to give me a hope and a future
- I am not just on this earth because my parents had a child, I am on this earth because Daddy God wanted a daughter/son
- The devil came to rob, kill and destroy but Christ came that I would have life ABUNDANTLY
- By your stripes Lord, I am healed
- I will walk and not stumble, run and not faint.
- Give all your worries and cares to God, for he cares about you
- ‘This hope we have as an anchor of the soul, both sure and steadfast, and which enters the Presence behind the veil, ‘ Hebrews 6:19
Grounding Exercises can also be very helpful
Therapy in a Nutshell have a free course on Grounding Skills that can be helpful
Do something Fun each day
Support Crisis Numbers
The Way Back Support Service
1300 168 839
Mental health access line
1300 MH CALL (1300 642 255)
Common Myths around Suicide
Some of the assumptions that shape our attitudes and beliefs about suicide may
be incorrect. Study the table below. How many of the myths about suicide are
you holding as true?
People who attempt suicide want to die
- People who attempt suicide are often confused about whether they want to live or die. They are often looking at suicide as a way to end unbearable emotional distress
People who talk about suicide are just attention-seekers
- Many people who attempt or complete suicide have spoken to someone about their intentions. This talk is a cry for help and should be taken seriously.
Talking about suicide may give the person the idea to complete suicide
- Raising concerns directly can help the person to feel supported and valued.
Once a person is intent on harming themselves they can’t be stopped
- Suicide is preventable. If people receive the support they need they are less likely to attempt suicide.
All people who attempt suicide are depressed
- Not everyone who attempts suicide is depressed Suicide attempts are rarely repeated
A prior suicide attempt is considered a risk factor for further harm.
- A large number of people who attempt suicide will attempt suicide again
Real Christians do not experience suicidal thoughts
- Christians become depressed. Psalm 102 depicts someone struggling with symptoms consistent with depression. Elsewhere in Scripture, we read about the despondency of Rebekah (Gen 27:46); Rachel (Gen 30:1); Job (Job 3:24) and Jeremiah (Jer 20:18). The Old Testament records people with a close relationship to God who wished for death (Job 3:20-22; 7:15-16; Num 11:15; 1 Kings 19:4; Jon 4:8).
Prayer is all a Christian needs – just pray harder
- Healing requires prayer, but prayer is sometimes not all that goes into healing. There are two reasons why sometimes prayer is not enough: (1) God is not in the business of eliminating our suffering; ans (2) while our soul needs healing through prayer, our body might also need healing through medical or psychological interventions, which take time (Mason, 2014).
Depressed people should just ‘buck up’
- A mental health problem is a common risk factor for suicide, and depression is the most common disorder associated with suicide. People who are depressed cannot snap out of it. If they could, they would.
Useful Links
https://www.lifeline.org.au/get-help/beyond-now
https://www.onefootforward.org.au
https://www.blackdoginstitute.org.au/